


Serendipity

by xxIzabela



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, bad bad english?, english isn't my first language sooooooo, starts with SQ but it ends DQ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 07:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7705234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxIzabela/pseuds/xxIzabela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma and Regina have been married for seven years.</p><p> <br/>One day, Regina met Mal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> So, I particularly don't consider the plot as 'cheating' per se, but a friend does, so be warned!!

Emma and Regina have been married for seven years.

It lasted longer than everyone – including them – expected. They were good friends and they respected each other and their needs. The problem was that Emma Swan and Regina Mills were very different from each other. At first, it was a fun challenge, doing things they didn’t like to please the other, trying to learn and love new things, but in the end, it became a burden.

Emma Swan loved the nature. She didn’t like to be surrounded by people, but she loved nature and adventures. She liked to go fishing, camping, hiking, kayaking, biking, and walking. If it was away from urban areas, she was in.  Regina, on the other hand, _hated_ these outdoors activities. It was nice to spend one day or another with the nature, but weeks? Sleeping on the ground? Peeing on bushes? Improvised baths and full of disgusting insects? No. At first, she went with Emma to her journeys and trips only to please her girlfriend, but she couldn’t like it and god, she tried! She wanted to love it as much as Emma did, but she couldn’t.

She could definitely appreciate the view – some places were gorgeous – but it wasn’t worth all the awful things she had to go through, it simply wasn’t, no matter how much Emma insisted it was. Regina tried and tried and tried, but all she managed to do was to hate Emma’s trip companions. Every time they had a brilliant idea to go somewhere, it meant Regina also had to go and she couldn’t not resent them for causing her pain. She felt so _so_ bad because Emma _loved it so much_. Emma was happier doing these things, she was made for it and everyone knew. It was just awful how what made Emma so alive also made Regina so miserable.

Regina Mills, on the other hand, loved cities. She was an art lover. All forms of art were valid to her. She liked museums, expositions (every kind of exposition: art, cinema, photography, archeology, _anything),_ musicals, theater, opera, orchestras, dance and shows (she could go to a small rapper battle in the middle of some park or to a super organized concert). Art, to Regina Mills, was splendid. She was the type of person who cried in front of paintings.

But to Emma Swan, all this was boring. She flinched every time Regina told her about some new event. She could appreciate good music and pretty paintings, but not to Regina’s degree. She could see an exposition in fifteen minutes, but Regina liked to read everything that could be read, and to examine every little thing about what was being exposed, besides she also liked to engage in long discussions with other art lovers. It was boring and she didn’t understand how someone could prefer to see those dead things instead of nature itself. Art, to Emma Swan, was nature, not some silly words or a pretty painting or even music. Nature was so much _bigger._ Out of respect, she went with Regina to these places and she wished she could enjoy them because Regina _loved it so much_ , Emma just couldn’t help how much it bored her.

Henry Swan-Mills was their eleven year old. He was raised by Emma and Regina, so to him, they were both his mothers even before they got married. Henry was ‘in between’ their tastes: he could enjoy the hobbies of both. He liked to go out with Emma and do different things, he liked to walk and see how beautiful nature was. He didn’t enjoy it as much as Emma, but he wasn’t as miserable as Regina. He also liked to go with Regina to exposition and shows, he could enjoy intelligent discussions about artists and writers and he could enjoy good music and musicals. But he never would be able to stay more than one week camping and would never be able to like opera or stay _hours_ inside a museum.

When the couple realized they were resenting each other for doing things they didn’t enjoy, they talked and discovered a solution: they would do the things they enjoyed alone. It means that Emma went to camping and hiking by herself, while Regina went to museums and shows by herself. Their relationship got better after that and Henry could decide what he wanted to do when he wanted to do. It suited everyone perfectly.

Regina didn’t have many friends and she didn’t care, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t miss having company to her events, especially when they were high society and everyone asked where her wife was (she lied, of course, Regina would never admit to them that her wife enjoyed more camping than her company).

And then Regina met Mal.

 

- 

 

They met during a photography exhibition and Regina was alone, as usual.

It was an exhibition about women around the world and she was staring at a specific photograph that had her eyes watering. It was a girl with bruises on her face, though her eyes were what attracted Regina the most: they were so _wild_ , so _brave_ , so… _defiant_. That girl was a survivor and Regina was _fascinated._ She herself was a survivor, so seeing that need to be free reflected in someone else’s eyes, it was… _too much._ A tear ran down her face and she closed her eyes trying hard not to cry.

She couldn’t.

“It’s beautiful.”

Surprised, she turned to the person by her side. The woman stared straight ahead to the photograph.

“She seems _wild,_ like she won’t stop fighting. We can almost see the fire in her eyes.”

“She’s a survivor,” Regina said. Her make-up was water proof - a gift from Emma- and she gently dried her eyes with a handkerchief. “And she can’t stop because if that fire dies, she dies too and she can’t die.”

“Why not?”

“Maybe she has a child. Maybe she has a dream. Maybe she has a sister,” she stopped for a moment and the woman looked at her. “Maybe… Maybe she believes life is more than the pain she’s going through.”

“She’s strong.”

“We _have_ to be.”

They looked at each other.

“Mallory,” said the woman with a smile.

“Regina.”

They saw the rest of the exhibition together. It was wonderful to have company again, to have someone who actually cared about what was happening, what they were seeing and the meaning of it. Mal, as she liked to be called, knew what she was talking about and was interested in what Regina had to say. It was a nice experience, this give and take. Emma never cared about it; her students usually took her opinions as a fact and the people she met during exhibitions never stuck around for long.  But Mal?  She argued fiercely and disagreed with Regina about some things, always eloquent, respectful and so very intelligent.

They decided to go a coffee shop after the exhibition and they talked. They talked a lot about everything. Regina didn’t remember talking so long with someone, even her conversations with Emma had moments of silence, of not knowing what to say – especially when they first met, it was always so physical with them. Yet with Mal, the conversation flew so naturally. They went from talking about High Culture versus Popular Culture to judging people’s outfits. It was so _easy._

She went home when it was already dark. Only then she realized she hadn’t missed Emma the entire day.

 

-

 

Mallory became her constant companion to any and every event. Emma apparently didn’t care much.

“I’m just happy you found someone to spend time with when I’m travelling.”

 

 

“She’s a lucky woman to have you,” said Mal one night. They were waiting for the Second Act of a musical when Mal approached the subject.

“Maybe I’m the lucky one.”

Mal looked at her. The thing about Mal is that she actually _looked_ at people, she studied people as much as she studied paintings. She searched for  _meaning,_ for _feelings,_ for something _deeper_ and _hidden_ in those around her _._ Regina always felt naked near her – her eyes were _so_ expressive and Mal was just so attentive, it was impossible to hide. The thing about Mal is that she was looking at Regina with those deep blue eyes and _so much warmth_ Regina didn’t know what to do, a part of her wanted to hide every time Mal was around, another part wanted to bask in the warmth and love it with all her strength.

“I doubt it,” said Mal with a warm smile.

Everything about Mal was warm: her smile, her eyes, her hugs, her hands… Especially her hands. Regina was always cold – Emma told her to sleep with socks on because her feet were always so cold – but Mal didn’t care, she simply held Regina’s hands tightly when it was dark in the theater until Regina’s hands were burning – sometimes, more recently, they held hands for longer.

 

Regina missed Mal. She missed her all the time. After seven months going out almost every week or so, Mallory had to travel for work – two weeks in Paris – and Regina never missed someone so much in all her life – _it’s a lie_ , she missed Zelena almost as much.

Emma asked her what was wrong and Regina lied. She didn’t have to lie, she was doing nothing wrong – except she was, she was falling for someone else and it was as much cheating as taking Mal to her bed.

It was during the dinner with Henry doing all the talking – about his friends and his day at school – as usual, when Regina received a message from Mal asking her to meet Saturday, apparently they were exhibiting some foreigner movies and she was curious to see one. She answered right away and when she put her phone down, Emma and Henry were looking at her.

“What?”

“Hum… Who was it?” asked Henry.

“Oh, it was Mal. There will be a foreigner movie exhibition this weekend. Want to come?”

She always asked. He always said no. Now that he had a crush and new friends, going out with his mom was lame. She didn’t even care anymore – it was a lie, she did care. It hurt her so much.

“No,” he said. “I’ll go out with my friends, we’re going bowling, remember?”

“Oh, right. Who will chaperone?”

“Mooomm, we don’t need an adult with us.”

Emma said nothing. She finished her food and went to bed.

When Regina laid by her side, they said nothing and went to sleep.

 

-

 

Regina hugged her tight when Saturday finally came and it felt so good, so comforting, so… _right_. Mal hugged her back just as tightly.

“I missed you so much,” said Regina.

Mal laughed and kissed her hair.

“I missed you more. So much more.”

Mal brought gifts for Emma and Henry. The boy was ecstatic when Regina showed him a box of macarons and new perfume – Violet mentioned she loved French perfumes and the boy was working hard to convince Regina to buy him one - but Emma wasn’t very interested in her own gift.

“Oh come on, Emma.”

“I don’t want it.”

“I asked her to bring it.”

She lied. She only asked for the macarons, not the perfume and not the new leather jacket she was holding. Actually, she only had mentioned to Mal about buying these things.

“Fine. How much was it?”

“It’s not important. I already paid for it.”

“Did you?”

“Yes!”

Henry was looking at them scared. They discussed sometimes, sure, but Emma never was… so cold.

“I want to meet her,” said Emma out of blue. “Your friend, Mal.”

“Okay.”

“Just okay?”

“You could always have met her, Emma, you just didn’t want to.”

Emma bit her cheeks.

“I want it too!” said Henry. His mothers looked at him. “I want to say thanks.”

Emma merely nodded. Regina smiled and agreed, but she was terrified.

If Emma noticed Regina’s new (and very expensive) scarf, a new painting in her office or the lovely box of (also expensive) chocolates, she said nothing.

 

-

 

She mentioned the meeting to Mal the next day while they talked during her lunch break (she missed Mal’s voice, so she called).

“It’s fine,” said the Mal calmly. Regina envied her for being so calm, but why wouldn’t she? Regina was the one who was confused and married and falling in love with someone else (a part of her expected it to be something fleeting. She was lonely and Mal was so kind and warm, so it was only natural. She believed it to be a stupid infatuation, so why complicate everyone’s life when it was something temporary? She only refused to think about how her ‘infatuation’ had survived for almost seven months and growing strong).

“Is it?”

“Yes, can I bring Lily?”

Lily was Mal’s daughter. Lily was tough kid with her mother’s love for art and a big heart. She made some bad decisions to impress some dumb gang in her school, but she loved her mother.

“Of course, I’d love to see Lily as well.”

Lily and Regina hit if off almost instantly. They met during a musical and Lily’s love for that sort of art made Regina ecstatic. She told Lily about Zelena, about how her sister left everything to try go big and how today she had the main role in a big production.

She hoped deep in her heart that Henry would love Mal as much as she loved Lily.

 

They met in a restaurant and it was beyond awkward.

Lily, Henry and Regina tried to make things less weird. They were the ones to make the conversation. Mal was more helpful, engaging Henry and even asking Emma things, but Emma wasn’t. She answered things when asked directly, but it was always cold and monosyllabic.

“Oh, by the way, Regina,” said Lily when the table was silent again. “I aced that essay. You were awesome!”

“Really? I’m happy to hear it! You were so worried about it.”

Then Henry said something about a new superhero movie and the three went back to discussing it. Mal excused herself to take a call from work, Emma went to the toilet and the remaining three could finally breathe.

“She’s pretty,” said Henry looking at Regina. “Mal, I mean. Mom and I thought she was old.”

“Old?”

Lily sipped her soda.

“Yeah, like Granny’s old.”

“But why?”

“I dunno… It’s a good question.”

When it was finally time to go home, Regina gave Lily a bear hug. The girl laughed in her arms. Even with the age difference, she and Henry got along pretty well. The same couldn’t be said about Emma and Mal who only nodded at each other before Emma went to their car and Mal went to Regina.

“Oh, that was… Nice,” said Mal.

“I’m sorry. She’s usually so… different.”

“It’s fine. I liked the boy, though. He’s sweet and he smiles just like you.”

Regina smiled. Mal reached and put a lock of Regina’s hair behind her ear.

“Goodbye then.”

Regina dragged her to a hug and she took a deep breath. Mal’s smell was always so pleasing, so incredibly… _perfect._

“Mom!” screamed Henry from the car.

Regina let her go.

 

-

 

They didn’t talk about it. They didn’t talk about Mal or what was bothering Emma. Nothing changed. Another month went by, then another, soon Henry was turning twelve and Zelena came to see her favorite kid.

Zelena Mills had one boyfriend and one girlfriend. Regina didn’t even blink when her sister explained their arrangements.

“Are you surprised?” Zelena had asked.

“I’m surprised you got TWO people to date you. How is it possible?! Are they crazy?!”

The boy was still at school when Zelena got there with three huge suitcases and one big shopping bag. She hugged her sister tightly and Regina didn’t even pretend she didn’t miss her sister like hell.

“Tell me everything!”

When Zelena was near, nothing seemed impossible or too hard. She had told her about Mal, not everything, because _there was nothing else to tell, right? Right._ Emma was working, so Regina took Zelena to Mal’s favorite coffee shop. It was far from her home, but it was just _so good._

She and her sister were talking about Zelena’s lovers when Mal came in. Regina smiled almost automatically and Zelena immediately followed her stare.

“Is that her?”

Regina nodded. Mal was ordering, she was in a gray suit and her expression was dark.

“She seems angry,” said Zelena, but Regina still called for her friend.

It was funny: Mal’s dark expression melted and in its place there was a big smile and warm eyes. She approached the sisters with quick steps and Regina went almost immediately into her arms. The hug was long and tight as usual,  she only remembered that her sister was there when Zelena cleaned her throat.

“This is my sister, Zelena.”

“It’s good to finally meet you,” said Mal.

“I was the one supposed to say that. My sister talks a lot about you!”

“Not as much as she talks about you.”

Mal couldn’t stay long, but she promised to go out with them as fast as possible.

“Duty calls,” she said and held Regina’s hand.

Zelena was forgotten one more time.

“Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“I have you and Lily reminding me of that.”

“We’re taking care of you.”

“I know,” she kissed Regina’s hand and excused herself.

Regina only looked at her sister again when Mal was out the coffee shop. Zelena was playing with the straw of her drink.

“So, you and Emma are in a monogamous relationship, right?”

“Yes, why?”

“Are you sure?”

“Excuse me?”

“Ginny, I love you, but you aren’t telling me everything, are you?”

“Don’t worry about that. It’s nothing.”

“The way you were looking at that woman… Regina, you aren’t cheating on Emma, are you?”

“What? No! I’d never!”

“Okay. Because cheating is _bad._ ”

“I know that.”

“Wanna fill me in then?”

Then Regina told her about her infatuation.

“How long?”

“Since I met her… Maybe.”

“Wasn’t that like a year ago?”

“Yes?”

“Ginny, this isn’t an infatuation.”

“Of course it is,” she took a deep breath. “Look, Mal’s incredible. She likes the same things I do and she gives me attention when Emma doesn’t. That’s all. Our marriage is just… being tested.”

“Does Emma know that?”

“I think she does.”

“Okay. You two should talk.”

They never did, but Regina talked to Mal… A lot. When something happened, Regina went to Mal, then she went to Zelena and then she went to Emma. She mentioned it to Mal one day while telling her what she did when she found out her favorite writer would give a lecture at her university.

“Why not Emma first?” Mal had asked.

“Because she doesn’t care,” she said almost too fast. Mal raised an eyebrow and Regina tried to fix it. “She doesn’t like him. She says he is too ‘nonsense’, so she wouldn’t care about him coming here, would she?”

“I’m not a fan either, but you still came to me first.”

She didn’t know what to say.

 

They almost kissed many _many_ times. It’d be so easy. All she had to do was grab Mal’s blouse and kiss her hard enough to take her own doubts away. She imagined sometimes how it would feel… How soft Mal’s lips would be against hers, how her body would feel pressed against her own, how would it feel to _take her hard and fast and slow and again and again and again._

But Regina didn’t. She held herself back every time and Mal never forced her, never made the first move. It was hard, Regina thought every time, it was hard not to take Mal when she so willingly wanted to be taken. Yet she didn’t. She wasn’t a cheater and she was _sure_ whatever she was feeling for Mal would be gone, disappear.

It didn’t.

She and Mal talked about it instead of going to an opera one day. They sat in a dinner and talked.

“You think it’s an infatuation?” asked Mal with worry.

“Of course it is,” she lied/affirmed (she truthfully didn’t know). “You are my best friend and you give me attention and listen to me… And care about me. I was feeling lonely and you were so… Incredible. Look, I’m not doing it right. I like attention and you gave it to me… so…”

“Regina, there is nothing wrong with wanting attention. So what? You were feeling lonely, so was I. I gave you attention and you gave me twice as much. I want you as much as you want me, but if you aren’t ready or you truly don’t want it, I can accept it.”

“You can?”

“Of course I can. I love you. I knew you were married, I can’t simply expect you to run away with me just because I fell for you, no matter how much I want it. I want to be your best friend and I want to be your company and I want to hear you reading the stupid things your students write on your tests and I want to speak with you for hours about the stars. I love you and it’s fine.”

To make her and Emma feel better, Mal actually got herself a girlfriend.

“If you are trying, I can try too, right?”

No, it wasn’t right, because the jealousy running through her veins was like poison, but what could she do?

 

-

 

She had to decide, but she still had time.

Right?

Ugh. No.

The supermarket incident happened and everything changed.

So, Emma and Regina were shopping for the month. It wasn’t a big deal. They did it all the time, but one older couple, two gentlemen, approached them near the organics section.  Regina knew them, of course. They were always at the same events she was, they were art collectors with a lot of money and a lot of time.

They asked if she was going to a fundraiser that weekend and Regina said yes. They talked a little, until one of them asked about her wife.

Emma looked at them.

“My wife?” asked Regina again. The two nodded.

“You two are so _sweet, so in love._ It’s all in the eyes.”

Emma stared at her, her expression emotionless.

“You’re wrong,” said Regina as strongly as she didn’t felt. “Mal and I are just friends. Emma is my wife.” she pointed at Emma who nodded at the two older men.

Things got weird from there on. Emma decided not to go hiking that weekend, so Regina did the same. It felt weird to go out when Emma was home with that awful expression on her face and barely talking to her. Regina cancelled with Mal and decided to force Emma to talk – even though she hated forcing Emma to do anything.

“Do you want to talk?”

Henry was playing video-games in his room and they were watching TV.

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Regina sighed.

“You aren’t talking to me and you have this _awful_ expression on your face.”

“It’s the only face I have, Regina,” she snapped. “Perhaps you would like it better if I had a completely different face!”

“Ok, what’s going on?”

Emma turned to her ignoring the football game on the TV.

“What’s going on? Perhaps the fact that you and Mallory are apparently ‘so in love’?”

She sighed.

“It’s not that. They had no idea what they were talking about.”

“Why don’t you tell me then what’s going on? Because when I see you two together it feels like I'm the one interrupting.”

“Emma—“

“The truth. Are you cheating on me?”

“I’d never,” she answered. “I never cheated on you and I don’t plan to.”

“Then tell me the truth!”

So she did. She told Emma about her infatuation.

“It’s nothing,” she assured. “Mal and I are just friends. In fact, Mal is dating a girl named Rose, she’s a sweetheart.”

No, she wasn’t. Regina hated her with everything she had.

“You’re telling me it’s just a crush.”

“Yes.”

Emma got up and turned the TV off.

“Emma—“

“Okay, I believe you. You can be a bitch, but not a liar.”

“Thank you, I think.”

“We need to talk more.”

They did, but not about everything and not as much as they should. It was weird, like talking to a stranger about your feelings, but it was a stranger somehow familiar. They decided to travel, only the three of them. Emma asked Regina to not talk to Mal and she wouldn’t talk to her friends either.

They were trying.

But it was forced and in the end, Regina went to running to Mal when they returned.

It wasn’t working and she said that to Mal over a glass of wine.

“What isn’t working?”

“Nothing is working as it should and it angers me.”

Mal only sipped her glass and let Regina talk.

“I didn’t tell you, but Emma and I haven’t had sex in a long time.” She gulped her own glass. “We tried recently, but it was so forced…” she sighed. “ I don’t know what to do.”

“Run away with me.”

Regina laughed.

“Look, I’m not saying it because of me, but you have been trying for this marriage since before you met me. What are you scared of?”

“I’m scared of it being like that with you too. I’m scared of waking up one day not knowing you anymore and not doing things together. I’m scared you’ll meet someone who will make you feel exactly what you make me feel and you’ll leave me. I’m scared of taking the wrong decision. I’m scared of letting Emma go because she’s and always will be important to me. I’m scared of I’ll do to Henry if I leave. I’m scared of leaving her and in the end, feeling the same with you. I’m so scared that I thought about running away alone.”

Mal finished her own glass of wine.

“You said nothing was working as they should. What do you mean?”

“It means that I was supposed to stop wanting you and I was supposed to fix things with Emma.”

“You can’t fix it by yourself and you can’t be sure the same won’t happen to us or any relationship you may have.”

“Then what’s the point?!”

“The point is trying and working hard.”

“I worked hard.”

Mal sighed.

“I can’t promise you it’ll be perfect and forever, but I can promise to try hard for it to be.”

“What about Rose?”

“I’m more worried about you and Emma.”

“So am I.”

 

-

 

Emma was the one who asked for the divorce.

“Why?” asked Regina looking at her.

They were both at the kitchen and Regina was washing the plates.

Emma sighed.

“It’s not working, is it? I mean, I don’t even remember when it was working. I think we drifted apart and we didn’t even realize until you crashed with someone else.”

“Emma—“

“No, don’t ‘Emma’ me. The truth is: we both have been acting as if we haven’t been married for a long time now. I travel with people who never met you. My friends don’t know you and your friends don’t know me. It’s insane. I figured out last week what disciplines you were teaching this semester and it’s almost over! It’d be too selfish to keep you with me just because I can.”

“You’re not selfish.”

“Let’s keep it that way.”

Regina touched Emma’s hands and she squeezed it.

“I’m worried about you.”

Emma nodded.

“Good, please don’t stop worrying about me.”

“Never.”

They hugged and Emma sniffed.

“But it was good, wasn’t it?” asked Emma while still in the hug. “Not all of it, but some parts, right?”

“Of course it was. The best I’ve had.”

“But it wasn’t enough.”

“You deserve someone crazy like you.”

 

Emma chuckled.

“I’ll still check on you to see if you’re feeding yourself correctly and if you are taking care of yourself,” said Regina forcing a smile.

“Of course, _mom._ ”

They hugged for some time and when Emma pulled back, Regina asked.

“Do you hate me? Do you resent me? Tell me the truth.”

Emma looked her in the eyes.

“I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t hurt or if I said it wasn’t a punch in my self-esteem, but I’d never hate you.”

 

Henry didn’t take the news so well, but nobody expected him to. It was going to take time and many sessions with Dr. Hopper.

Regina insisted that Emma retained the house, she rented an apartment closer to the university and life went on.

 

-

 

Mal took her on their first official date to a movie exhibition in the middle of the park. They watched the movie sitting on the grass, under the stars and holding hands. Their first kiss was when Charles Chaplin was waving the red flag.

 

Henry finally talked to Regina again after six months. Emma was doing fine during the whole process, she had her friends and her trips.

He reached for his other mom first.

Lily was extremely helpful to integrate Henry to Regina’s new life. He was still upset with Regina and Mal was basically the root of all evil, but Lily was the older sister he never had and he was slowly opening to them. Slowly, but steady.

 

It would be their first Christmas with everyone. Henry was thirteen now and his relationship with both his mothers was okay. He was “older”, so he could understand “complicated things now”. Dr. Hopper said it was a good sign he was trying to understand his mothers instead of simply judging.

It would be also the first time Emma and Mal would share the same space. Regina begged Mal to be ‘nice’.

“I’m always nice! She’s the one who hates me.”

“All I am asking is—“

“I know, love, I know,” she kissed Regina’s nose. “I’ll behave. No touching slash kissing in front of Emma, I got it.”

“Do you?”

Mal smirked and gave her a peck on the lips.

“I will behave. I promise.”

“Thank you.”

“But I want a reward.”

 

She kissed her.

Kissing Mal was a blessing. It was nice and comforting and _so so damn right_ , she never wanted to stop.

 

Emma brought a new ‘friend’. She was Swedish and they met during the three months Emma had been away. They were cute together.

“What if she hurts her?” said Regina when she and Mal were on the bed together.

“Then Emma will move on. She’s strong.”

“What if she’s just lonely? What if it’s a mistake?”

“She likes to be alone, doesn’t she?”

“Being lonely and alone are different.”

Mal tightened her hold on Regina’s waist and kissed her neck.

“You can’t protect her from everything.”

“Watch me try.”

 

-

 

Mal proposed after three years together.

They were living in the same house and Mal was stressed out trying to plan the perfect proposal. Lily and Henry tried to help, but they were useless.

“The ring is the most important thing, mom,” said Lily. “Do you have it already?”

“Of course I do.”

“Can we see it?”

“No.  Help me and I’ll let you see it.”

“What about me?!” asked the boy.

“Just help me.”

 

They didn’t.

 

She was stressed and worried about the proposal, so she didn’t notice how Regina was acting weird around her, until one day.

 “It happened, right?” asked Regina panicking “Oh my god, it happened.”

“What happened?”

“You’re going to leave me, aren’t you? You just don’t know how _yet.”_

“I’m not going to leave you.”

“That’s what you’re telling yourself, but it’s not the truth, is it?”

“Regina, you are overreacting.”

“Am I?! You’ve been avoiding me for weeks now! We’re barely talking. I’ve seen that before.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Yes, you are!”

“I’m not, you idiot.”

“ _See,_ it’s happening.” She clutched her chest. “Okay, just give me… Give me some time to adjust.”

Mal sighed. She really wanted to do something incredible…

“I’m no leaving you, I want to marry you!”

Regina looked at her adorably confused. Mal reached out and kissed her adorably confused face.

“What?”

“Marry me?”

“You are not leaving me?”

“No. I’m not. Now, will you marry me?”

“Are you sure?” her eyes were watering and lips trembled. “I was _so sure._ ”

“I’m sorry.” She kissed her forehead and cleaned the fresh tears. “I should have known you’d take it that way, but no, I’m not leaving you.” Mal kissed her then, long and deep.

 When they finally released each other, Regina cleaned her tears.

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“I want to marry you.”

 

Before, Regina could say for sure she only cried because of Art (and not all of them, mind you), but now her repertoire had seriously raised: she cried when Lily went to college, she cried when Emma called her in the middle of the night asking her if she truly had been a good wife because Elsa deserved the best and she was _terrified_ , she cried when Henry went to college, she cried harder when he and Lily went home to celebrate holidays, she cried when she held her first grandson and she cried when she promised Mal to love her forever while they were going to bed on a Wednesday night.

Mal laughed and kissed her forehead.

“I’ve loved you ever since I saw you crying in front of that photograph. One day, maybe, I’ll stop, but I wouldn’t count on that.”

“I may have loved you since then as well.”

“Good, keep loving me forever.”

Regina smiled and kissed her wife.

“Good night, my love, I’ll love you forever.”

They went to sleep and Regina never woke up.

She did love her forever, until her last breath after their last conversation on a Wednesday night.

(Mal didn’t live for long after that. Six months later she told Lily she dreamed about Regina, the next morning she didn’t left her dream at all).


End file.
